There’s nothing like a pandemic to bring out the hucksters. Need a cure for your COVID? Try colloidal silver solution! Or how about some UV light, internally (don’t ask)? And if that doesn’t work, I’ve got a blister pack of horse deworming tablets that’ll do the trick.

We have a term for these nostrums: “snake oil”. But did you know that snake oil wasn’t always, well, snake oil? Medical historian Caitjan Gainty tells the captivating story of this serpentine solution, and its journey from legitimate treatment to a byword for quackery. And in an ironic twist, it may even make a comeback as an ingredient in vaccines.

Candyman is back in cinemas in a remake of the 1992 classic. Find out why this spooky story – an amalgam of urban legends – has such strong appeal.

Elsewhere, the US and allied forces have now left Afghanistan, but not everyone who wanted to leave was able to board a plane. Fortunately, the right to leave any country is established in international law – and lawyers will be watching to see whether it is upheld.

Clint Witchalls

Health + Medicine Editor (UK edition)

Retro AdArchives/Alamy Stock Photo

How snake oil got a bad name

Caitjan Gainty, King's College London

Snake oil, rich in omega-3 fatty acids, was a go-to medicine for many ailments.

Afghan refugees preparing to board a South Korean flight in Kabul. EPA-EFE/Republic of South Korea Air Force handout

Afghanistan: right to leave a country to seek asylum is well established in international law

Emilie McDonnell, University of Oxford

Everyone has the right to have a country to seek asylum, but it will need international cooperation to get the Taliban to honour this right.

Universal Pictures/MGM Pictures

‘Say his name five times’: why we find the Candyman story so irresistible

Joe Stubbersfield, University of Winchester

Urban legends are shaped by the people who tell them and where they’re from. That’s why you’ll hear so many versions of the same story.

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